Scythian artifacts to return to Ukraine
An appeals court in the Netherlands has ruled that Ukraine has legal control over a trove of ancient artifacts from Crimea that was on loan to a Dutch museum when Russia seized the peninsula in 2014, Radio Liberty has reported.
The long-awaited victory in the Amsterdam Court of Appeal. "Scythian gold" returns to Ukraine. Grateful to the court for a fair decision, and to the Ukrainian Justice Ministry, the Foreign Ministry and the Culture and Information Policy Ministry for the result. We always regain what's ours. After the "Scythian gold", we'll return Crimea," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted.
Bayraktars used in Donbas
The Ukrainian Armed Forces have used Bayraktar strike drones against the artillery of Russian mercenaries in Donbas for the first time, volunteer Roman Donik has said on Facebook.
The strike drones were used for the first time to destroy enemy artillery shelling the village of Hranitne. Donik pointed out that it was decided to use strike drones at a distance of more than 15 km in order to save civilian and military lives.
"A battery was detected but a missile only destroyed one gun. The crews of the others escaped," he said.
JFO denies seizure of village
The Joint Forces Operation HQ has denied reports that Ukrainian servicemen have seized a village in no man's land near the village of Hranitne in Donbas.
"The Joint Forces Command states that this information is untrue. This is yet another attempt by illegal armed formations of the Russian Federation to discredit and accuse Ukraine of violating the line of contact," the JFO press centre reported.
The Donetsk regional prosecutor's office said that the separatists mortared Hranitne on the morning of 26 October. As a result, six residential buildings and an overhead transmission line were damaged.
Ukrainian serviceman killed
Master Sergeant Heorhiy Khalikov was killed in combat during artillery shelling by Russia-backed militants in Donbas today, the Poltava regional territorial manning centre has said on Facebook.
According to the evening update by the Joint Forces Operation HQ, one Ukrainian serviceman was wounded and the other succumbed to daily wounds today.
Change of delegation head denied
The Ukrainian minister for reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories and first deputy head of the Ukrainian delegation to the trilateral contact group (TCG) on Donbas, Oleksiy Reznikov, has denied reports about the change of the TCG head.
Earlier, some media reported that the current head of the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG, Leonid Kravchuk, might be replaced with the former head of the presidential administration under Viktor Yanukovych, Serhiy Lyovochkin.
MP's death
Methadone and dimedrol were found in the body of late MP Anton Polyakov, First Deputy Interior Minister Yevhen Yenin said on the air of the Hromadske TV channel.
"We have completed one of the examinations and we can say that this is methadone with an admixture of dimedrol, the so-called 'street methadone'. Dimedrol enhances the effect of the drug," Yenin said.
Crime
The SBU has exposed a policeman of the Kyiv special-purpose patrol service regiment and his accomplice selling weapons and ammunition from the Joint Forces Operation area.
The patrol police, who was seconded to Donbas, organised the illegal sale of weapons, ammunition and explosives to criminals all over Ukraine.
The suspects stored the weapons and ammunition in private garages in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Region.